Short Sighted

I was watching the Military channel last night about the carrier Abraham Lincoln being deployed to the gulf right before the Iraq war started. As I watched these men and women go about their daily jobs and prepare for war, I started to wonder why we always let the lowest common denominator dictate our decision making (which is another topic I will get to later in another post.) The show got me thinking about our current political situation regarding the Iraq war and what comes next in this nation. What is the end game for cats like Harry “defeatist” Reid? If America fails at stabilizing Iraq and thus the Middle East, how do the anti war politicians gain in the long run? Obviously in the near term they are hoping for defeat to cause a regime change here in this country but are the long term ramifications of losing another war worth political gain?

As a nation we are in dire straits; the very core of our Republic is being questioned, debated, and twisted well beyond what previous generations of Americans would have allowed. Now that we are well past 60 plus years since the greatest generation pushed their way through the shores of Normandy to end Hitler’s Nazi regime and define their generation, how do we define ours? Do we define ourselves as a nation divided with one half clinging to the principals of our forefathers and the other half trying to rewrite the very history we so dearly cherish? Or will we define ourselves as the first generation in the last 50 years to look past our differences, past the “what’s in it for me” mentality, and start electing leaders that believe that our most defining moments still lay before us. Short sightedness should not and can not be a viable strategy for the future of our Republic.